Rich Hofmann: Lee lets Phillies breathe Cy of relief

October 08, 2009
(Page 3 of 3)

This was one of those days. As teammate Raul Ibanez said, "To be honest with you, it just looked like Cliff Lee."

Which means tempo and precision and an even calm. Nobody admitted to noticing one thing different about Lee on the day of his first postseason start - no nerves, no overhypedness, nothing. Rollins laughed that the only thing that seems to bother him is his work as a hitter.

"After a bad swing, [he'll say], 'Man, I can't believe I swung at that pitch up in the zone,' " Rollins said. "I'm like, 'We do it all the time. Cliff. You're a pitcher, dude - just go get 'em out.' And he's like, 'Yeah, but man, I've got to get that down.'

Story continues below.

"He's a good athlete. I guess he's almost like a perfectionist."

Somebody used the word unflappable to describe Lee. Somebody said there wasn't much flapping yesterday. Rollins smiled.

"Except for those flags in the wind," he said.

Send e-mail to

hofmanr@phillynews.com, or read his blog, The Idle Rich, at

http://go.philly.com/theidlerich. For recent columns go to

http://go.philly.com/hofmann.

« Prev | 1 | 2 | 3
|
|
|
|
|